The present invention relates to containers in general and to reclosable containers with graphic displays in particular.
For centuries boxes with reclosable lids have been used to retain, organize, and protect personal belongings of all sorts. From the richly decorated enamel or marquetry jewel box which centrally stores precious gems to the child's cigar box which holds a collection of baseball cards, reclosable boxes are prized for their appearance as much as for their utilitarian functions.
The outward appearance of a box can aid the owner in recalling the box's contents by associating color or design with the items within. Pleasing ornamentation, moreover, satisfies an owner's natural desire to preserve and display possessions in an attractive manner.
Where box construction was once the province of the cabinet maker, the carpenter, the tinsmith, or the metal worker, modern manufacturing techniques have made possible containers of all shapes and sizes at very low cost. Plastic molding processes, in particular, permit the formation of simple containers on a mass production basis.
Injection molding and thin sheet thermoforming can produce boxes of solid opaque colors, of transparent plastic, or a combination of the two. Yet, although molding processes readily apply bas relief or intaglio decoration, photographs, drawings, or reproductions of artworks cannot be produced in the molding operation. Decorations of this type are sometimes provided in a plastic container by applying an adhesive to the rear surface of a paper label prepared in a separate printing process and affixing the label to a surface of the container. This gluing step can add cost to the manufacture of the decorated container, and, in any event, presents a container with decoration which is permanently secured and not amenable to variation.
What is needed is a low cost container which is readily provided with decorative elements which may be replaced or removed if desired.